Population estimates

The resident population of Trafford (mid-2021) is estimated at 235,546.  This is made up of 59,467 individuals aged 0-19 years (25.2%), 134,610 individuals aged 20-64 years (57.1%) and 41,469 individuals aged over 65 years (17.6%). Trafford is similar to England when comparing the population estimates across these age groups (Table 1).

Table 1: Estimated resident population by broad age group for Trafford and England (2021) 

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2021

Table 2 below presents a more detailed breakdown of Trafford’s resident population by gender and five-year age group using ONS mid-2021 estimates.  The age groups with the greatest health needs tend to be the very young and the very old.  The under-5 population in Trafford is estimated at 13,308 (5.6% of total) and the over-90 population at 2,105 (0.9% of total) for mid-2021.

Table 2: Estimated resident population (mid-2021) of Trafford by gender and 5-year age group

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2021

Figure 1 presents the population pyramid for Trafford and compares the age distribution of Trafford with England. Trafford has a higher percentage of population aged 5 to 14 years and older working age groups (35-54 years) compared with England. Trafford has fewer individuals aged 20-34 and 65-74 years compared with England. For all other age groups, the distribution is similar to England.

Figure 1: Population pyramid presenting the percentage composition by 5-year age group and gender of resident population in Trafford compared with England (mid-2021 estimates)

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2021

Population growth (2011-2021)

Since the 2011 Census, the resident population of Trafford is estimated to have increased by 4.0% in mid-2021 lower than growth of 6.6% across England.

Across different broad age groups, the number of 0–19-year-olds living in Trafford increased by 2,963 (5.2%) and the number of over 65s by 5,196 (14.3%), whereas the number of people aged 20-64 has increased by 809 (0.6%).

The estimated number of under 5 years of age residents in Trafford decreased between the years 2011 and 2021 by 1,562 (10.8%), whereas the number of people aged 90 years and over increased by 427 (25.4%). Table 3 presents a comparison of the population of Trafford in 2011 and 2021 by 5 year age group and the number and percentage of growth between the two years for Trafford and England.

Table 3: Growth in estimated resident population between 2011 and 2021 in Trafford compared with England

  Source: Office for National Statistics 2011 and 2021